FFRF Scores Against NJ Church & State

The FFRF (Freedom From Religion Foundation) won a unanimous ruling against churches in New Jersey that were using taxpayer funds to restore their buildings (here). Despite the fact that the state constitution explicitly prohibits such funding, it is common. The NJ Supreme Court unanimously declared it illegal to use taxpayer funds to repair active places of worship. Why do governments go out of their way to subsidize churches? Why did the media almost completely ignore both the subsidy and the judicial defeat?

Unfortunately, FFRF doesn’t say anything about this. The media’s silence about taxpayer funding of churches is particularly notable. Ending these subsidies is effectively a tax cut. In a time when even miniscule tax cuts garner lots of headlines, you’d hope that the one-two punch of enforcing the law and saving the public’s money would be worth reporting. I suspect there are good stories behind the silence.